Break to You by Debra Young, Michelle Knowlden, and Neal Shusterman

The quick cut: A girl ends up in a juvenile detention facility and finds herself sharing messages with a boy at the same facility by passing her journal back and forth.

A real review:

Being convicted of a crime in many ways can leave your life permanently irreparable. People see you as a problem instead of as a fellow person. Opportunities that potentially came easy before are rare instead. For young Adriana, all she's looking to do is survive the next seven months at the Compass juvenile facility.

Adriana has just arrived at Compass and is already looking forward to leaving. Seven months is what she'll need to serve here before she can go home to her dad and his wife. Her one saving grace is her journal where she shares her thoughts. When she accidentally leaves it behind in the library, she finds someone has not only read it, but put their own comments in it. Who would invade her privacy? Will this sudden connection lead to something good or bad?

I love Neal Schusterman books, so of course I picked this one up. It was very much worth the journey too! This story just further points out how much the mental health crisis is still alive and well today. Rather than just incarcerating people, we need to do the work to truly help them deal with their core problems. Calling them broken isn't going to change anything.

Adriana and Jon may have different stories, but at their core they are struggling with the same problems. In their unexpected way, they have found someone who understands their pain and sees them for the people they truly are.

This story is so layered and heartbreaking. The ending really made me feel some very mixed emotions. It is nice to see that they took a realistic approach to the tale. At a minimum, it shines a light on the real issues with these facilities and how they don't solve the problem.

A fictional story that powerfully tells the truth behind the issue in the juvenile detention facilities that exist today.

My rating: 4 out of 5